Brother, be sure you never takemeaning things of Fortune and external. For, as if he had bid him not to play on a flute if ignorant of music, nor to read a book if he knew not his letters, nor to ride if he understood not a horse, so it would be if he advised him not to govern if a fool, nor to be a rich man if a miser, [p. 481] and not to marry if apt to be ruled by a woman. For success above desert is to fools an occasion of misthinking, as Demosthenes2 saith; yes, and good fortune above desert is to the unwise an occasion of misdoing.
A boon from Jove, but giv't him back,
1
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In like manner wisdom is itself neither gold nor
silver nor fame nor wealth nor health nor strength nor
beauty. What then is it? It is what can use all these
with decorum, and by means of which every one of these
is made pleasant, commendable, and useful, and without
which they become useless, unprofitable, and prejudicial,
and the burthen and shame of their possessors. Hesiod's
Prometheus therefore gives very good advice to Epimetheus:
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 2.
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